Stephen Lesko Gains New Professional Skills, Now Teaches Them

Quick Profile:

• Student: Stephen Lesko
  
• Why iCarnegie? Enrolled in iCarnegie Courses to update the skills and education he gained from his BS in Computer Science
• Partner School: Ursinus College’s Center for Continuous Learning, Collegeville Pennsylvania USA
• iCarnegie Alumni Status: iCarnegie Certificate in Computer Programming, pursuing iCarnegie Certificate in Software Systems Development
• Profession: Director of IT (daytime); Adjunct iCarnegie Instructor (evenings)
  Employer: Moyer Packing Company; Ursinus Center for Continuous Learning

Taking the iCarnegie Courses
Stephen Lesko was working as a Senior Systems Analyst and Business Unit Lead for Moyer Packing Company in Souderton, Pennsylvania, USA, when he learned that Ursinus College had partnered with iCarnegie, Inc., an educational affiliate of Carnegie Mellon University, to offer courses in software systems development. Although he held an MBA degree and a BS in Computer Science, both from Moravian College of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania,

Mr. Lesko was looking to upgrade his IT skills. Although his job at Moyer didn’t require him to do so at the time, he wanted to keep up with the fast-growing use of Java technologies and C++ programming in his profession. He was well aware of Carnegie Mellon’s reputation for excellence in technology curriculum, which formed the basis of the iCarnegie program. Mr. Lesko enrolled in September 2000 to take Ursinus’ fast-track iCarnegie evening program, which offered iCarnegie’s 10 courses leading to two levels of certification. He found himself extremely committed to the program because of its emphasis on teaching the latest technologies and software engineering practices, including e-commerce development, advanced Java, object-oriented programming, user-centered design and testing, database design, algorithm programming, data structures, security, and software project management.

“The curriculum is extremely effective because it augments academic topics with real-world programming experiences,” he said. “Because I had been working in the IT field for several years, I knew that what I was learning through the iCarnegie courses at Ursinus would apply to today’s working environments.”

Becoming iCarnegie Certified
After completing the first five iCarnegie courses, Mr. Lesko was among the first class of adult students at Ursinus to earn the iCarnegie Certificate in Computer Programming, which was awarded to him in July 2001.

Achieving Professional Advancement
Mr. Lesko’s career development was not limited to new skills he could contribute at Moyer Packing. He became so impressed with the iCarnegie education that he wanted to become part of the program at Ursinus, to help other students master the content and exercises. He became an adjunct iCarnegie instructor at Ursinus in fall 2001 and has been teaching evening classes each semester since then.

Ursinus reports that Mr. Lesko receives consistently high ratings as an iCarnegie instructor – acclaimed for his ability to relate his own professional and iCarnegie training experience to teaching the course material and exercises.

“I love helping students see what they can expect to do in the workplace once they have mastered these skills. The iCarnegie curriculum provides a solid footing for real-world programmers and analysts,” he said.

Working in the Industry Today
Mr. Lesko found that with the very first iCarnegie course, he gained skills that were immediately applicable to the demands and challenges encountered in today’s working environments. His iCarnegie training would allow him to web-enable business operations if the need arose. He is now the Director of IT at Moyer Packing, which puts to use some of the project management training he received.